and good afternoon, i'm richard lui, you're watching msnbc. republicans still hammering the administration on this sunday, on shouldn't shows this morning after what happened in libya on september 11th. now a new call for answers from susan rice herself. negotiating fiscal cliff. did nancy pelosi just draw a red line? today she's saying she won't sign off on any deal that does not increase taxes on the rich. and president obama is dealing with all of this while in the midst of his trip through asia, including israel and gaza on the brink of war. >> we're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24-36-48 hours. if we're serious about wantsing to resolve this situation and a

create a genuine peace process it starts with no more missiles being fired into israel's territory. >> first off, we're in a developing story in the middle east. let's go now to stephanie gosk, who is in tel aviv with the latest. what's the tone on ground today? >> well you hear the president say that as long as rockets were dropping, it was going to be impossible to get a cease-fire here. and the rockets definitely keep on coming. and there have been attacks back and forth. a couple of volleys of rockets that came toward tel aviv. intercepted by the israeli missile defense system, iron dome, which end up intercepting all four rockets before they hit. southern israel was not quite so lucky. there were five people injured there when a house was targeted by one of the rockets. today the deadliest day for gaza, more than 20 have been killed. the deadliest attack over the course of the day was in a

residential building. more than 12 people were killed when the building was hit. and then proceeded to collapse. most of the people that were killed were from the same family, including women and children. richard? >> stephanie, we've been watching channel 2 news out of israel, quoting hamas saying the negotiations for the cease-fire have failed. and saying that 90% of demands, that was hamas is saying. 90% of demands have been met what are you hearing about the cease-fire? >> well our understanding is that those talks continue. even though those comments are being reported by israeli tv, coming from hamas, that the delegates from the palestinian side and from the israeli side. as well as egyptians and a qatari envoy are still talking about the cease-fire possibility. here on the ground you had leaders in this country, including the foreign minister here, saying that they're open to cease-fire options. but you also had the prime minister echoing what we heard from president obama. that these rocket attacks have

to stop before there's going to be a cease-fire. and some fairly belligerent words from the defense minister here, ehud barak, who says he seeds the possibility of this effort broadening and becoming more aggressive, richard? >> what are you hearing from the military leaders. what are they saying at the moment that you're hearing, stephanie, about the deciding factor whether they will move into gaza or not? >> they wouldn't discuss a tipping point. it's widely believed that the leadership in this country does not want a ground offensive in gaza. but they do keep that option open and they have been building up their forces close in southern israel, close to gaza, including calling up or at least putting on stand-by 75,000 reservists which would be a substantial force if they were all called up in the neighborhood of 100,000 troops. and you know, these are all warning signs. these are all things that they are capable and prepared to go in on the ground.

richard? >> stephanie gosk, thank you so much from tel aviv live with the latest. we'll check in later to get the update out of israel. thank you so much. as we've been reporting and talking about today, the crisis between israel and hamas could escalate into a large-scale ground assault into gaza. israel's prime minister warned that israel is prepared for a significant expansion of the military operation there. let's bring in the israeli consulate general to new york. ambassador, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. we're talking about the prime minister, the prime minister assuring president obama according from what we're hearing from u.s. officials, there would not be a full-scale ground assault into gaza unless hamas escalated its moves into southern israel. meaning the rocket attacks. we heard an israeli defense force spokeswoman who said we are currently training and preparing for ground possibilities. which one is it? >> well first of all, military, generally speaking will always, this is their job, and i say

this as someone who served in the military, you always have to have a contingency plan. so the fact that for 75 people, 75,000 israeli reservists were authorized to be recruited by the idf. it doesn't mean that the idf is going to use them tomorrow. regarding your first question, the israeli cabinet, the commander-in-chief, gave the israeli defense forces a clear mandate, to remove the threat that we view to be of strategic nature. to remove the threat of rockets and missiles coming into israel from gaza. but the mandate was not limited in time or in scope. so certainly the possibility of an israeli ground, ground force operation is certainly, certainly exists. >> so you're saying that's in the cards, ambassador. the question does come up, it came up in 2008, that's proportional response. if you do have a ground assault, you will have higher numbers of

casualties. the criticism will be, will this be reasonable? will this be proportional? >> again, the israeli cabinet gave the idf a clear mandate, to minimize as humanly possible, the loss of life. and we deeply regret the loss of life of noninvolved palestinians. it goes without saying. we're not set out to destroy gaza. this is not our goal. our goal is to deal with the failures of the palestinian leadership to provide in the first place, for their own people. our entire southern region, today 4.5 million israelis are within range. our entire southern region has been paralyzed for seven years, the damage to israel's economy can be estimated in the billions. as a result of 12,000 rockets and missiles that were fired into israel from gaza. >> officials in gaza will say that the number of casualties that they've had to experience is far greater. is not proportional. and this does not make sense to

them. and you've obviously very aware of the arguments that go back and forth. the question is as we look at a sustainable cease-fire, as we look at discussions that can have long-term effect, what is needed from israel's side to have that long-term sustainable cease-fire? >> the palestinians have to stop firing rockets and missiles into israel. it's as simple as that. we have to understand the background here. in the summer of 2005, israel withdrew from gaza. until the last square inch. we uprooted thousands of israelis. we demolished 25 thriving jewish communities and we told the palestinians -- here, unconditionally, gaza is all yours. turn it into an island of prosperity. what do they do instead? they turn gaza into a launching pad into an armament depot and kept on attacking israel time and again. >> the arab leaders are meeting

to try to put together a sustainable cease-fire, a solution in gaza. do you have hopes for that? those discussions? >> well again, in order for us to consider a cease-fire, there has to be an end to the blij rancy on the part of hamas, it's been going on for seven years, it did not start yesterday. >> thank you so much, ambassador, we appreciate your time. the israeli consul general to new york. we'll be speaking later on with a spokeswoman, diana bhutu later in this hour to get the other perspective, a former plo spokeswoman. and again that's diana bhutu later in this hour. while the president pays close attention to incidents in the middle east, he's paying attention to diplomatic goals during his trip to the middle east. including one historic visit. mike viquiera, why was it vital that the president make this trip to asia? >> he's fulfilling a commitment

and a symbolic commitment. to pay more attention to east asia, particularly those nations that are in the neighborhood of china. of course the rising influence of china been going on for decades now. both militarily and economically. there are geographic disputes in the region between the philippines, vietnam, several other countries, over some islands in the south china sea. the president, you're right is making an historic visit, he'll be the first sitting president to visit myanmar, known as burma. and the first sitting president to visit cambodia. he overnights tonight in thailand. he's had meetings there. he's visited a buddhist temple. met with the king of thailand, the political leader of thailand as well. one interesting aspect of this, perhaps that you've already heard the president from his press conference. he went to a buddhist temple and joked with one of the monks there, one of the religious officials that he should say a

prayer for the budget negotiations back here in washington. so the president fulfilling his commitment not only to visit these countries, to be part of the asean summit, the annual summit that takes place in cambodia. the third leg of his trip. >> lots of countries there to take account for. some 50 at least in that region. thank you so much. >> okay. the president told republicans to come after him, but a couple senators will not let up when it comes to ambassador susan rice. the pressure is on for her to say something about libya. but will she talk? and he vowed not to talk twinkies, less he be mocked on "saturday night live," but in the end, new jersey governor chris christie took matters into his own hand, showing up to make a couple of jokes, it's a must-see. into their work,

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maybe she could start out by publicly coming back on the show and saying, i was wrong. i gave the wrong information on your show some several weeks ago. that might be a beginning. >> but until then -- you will remain opposed to her nomination? >> under the present circumstances, until we find out all the information as to what happened, i don't think you could want to support any nominee right now. >> senator mccain with a slightly softer tone on ambassador susan rice this morning. but the senator is not backing off of the overall criticism of the obama administration on foreign policy. and the response to events in libya leading up to the deadly attack in benghazi. let's bring in bill schneider, political analyst and distinguished fellow and third way and the "chicago sun-times" washington bureau chief, lynn sweet. bill, we'll start with you, you heard senator mccain, if hillary clinton leads the state department do you think that

susan rice has a better chance at the job, especially after we heard on friday from senators conrad and feinstein, saying that rice was really only saying what she was told she could say from the c.i.a.? >> that's right. she appears to have followed talking points from the c.i.a., which were wrong. the talking points said that what happened in libya, that terrible tragedy was a spontaneous protest, hked by extremists. the problem was the information was incorrect. it was actually a premeditated terrorist attack. as the c.i.a. now acknowledges. that's an issue, it should be debated and fully discussed. i don't know that it is so terribly disqualifying, the way senators mccain and graham have made it out to be. as to say this woman is not qualified to be secretary of state. that's a very different issue. >> lynn, what do you think? you wrote about the issue and you say that the president, the roots go very deep with rice here. the commitment to rice, is very strong with the president and rice. >> right, and he is going to go

to mat for her. they, you know, she was with him when he was running for the senate back in 2005. and her support when he first ran for president meant an awful lot to them. because she came out of the clinton administration and i've been told by people close to this, that he, as we saw the press conference this week. that he if wants her to be a secretary of state, she is going, he's going to back her to the max. but what we heard today on the sunday shows, was, was from mccain and in a sense foreshadowed on the "face the nation" clip that you played. perhaps a pathway out, a price to pay, an apology. that sounds also like it would have to be an appearance at some capitol hill committee. >> that's a good point. bill, do you believe that the pathway is being opened, that they are thinking of a third way here? >> i think they are. look, this president has just been re-elected. and presidents are normally given some deference when they're re-elected, to select cabinet members of their own choice. she would also have the full confidence of the president,

that's important in a secretary of state. she's very close to him. much closer than hillary clinton, who was his rival for the nomination. that also is very important. i think the senate would like to show deference to the president, a new president to pick his own foreign policy adviser. >> what's your thought here, lynn, when it comes to susan rice, some have said that she rose too fast, perhaps. some say she's known to speak too quickly before having all the facts, what do you know about that? >> i think she's been in government many, many years. she is very seasoned. the united nations job is still a very major diplomatic post that she has, she's part of the administration. people sometimes misspeak with good intentions, let's look at what colin powell told the world and the united nations about weapons of mass destruction in iraq. sometimes this happens and like i said, i think she is ready to step into the role. if that's what the president

wants. 9/10 of being in the cabinet has to do with who the president wants. and you become the job, if that is the job that the president of the united states wants you to have. it does seem like he's willing it take a fight on this one. >> bill, you know whenever we talk about secretary clinton in 2016, that conversation, those two kind of come together. certainly. many people are bringing up already. how might those conversations be different? you think here, if it was her delivering those unclassified talking points from the c.i.a. on the sunday shows instead of as we know, susan rice? what's your thought here? >> my thought is if senator clinton were running for president and the republicans decided to make that an issue, she would simply say this -- you want to talk about failures of intelligence? how about the failures of intelligence under a republican administration, in iraq? how about the failures of intelligence about reporting to the u.n. on weapons of mass destruction that no one could find?

those are failures of intelligence. this may have been a failure of intelligence, it was corrected very quickly, it had terrible consequences, some americans were killed, including the u.s. ambassador. but it was by no means in the same league as the war in iraq. >> lynn? >> i want to quickly point out, the problem is what happened in the lead-up to the terrible murders in libya. not whether ambassador rice had a, had a bad explanation after the fact. what congress is doing is looking at why this happened. it could have been prevented. the appearance of ambassador rice on the sunday shows misspeaking, not good. but let's keep our eye on the ball on what the real problem is. >> lynn, bill, stand by. we'll be talking with you a little later in the hour. thank you so much for your perspective on this issue, this hour. this soon-to-be freshman congressman learned the hard way, it's tough to be a new kid on the block. why he literally jumped out of his seat, coming up. and president obama telling

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nyquil d. 50% longer cough and stuffy nose relief. time for your daily dose of trail mix. vice president biden visiting hurricane recovery efforts in new jersey. >> new jersey governor chris christie found a lighter venue to thank emergency crews in his storm-ravaged state when he showed up on the set of "snl," he thanked responders and then in comedic form, he unthanked a few others. >> i also do not want to thank 9 reporters, that put themselves in danger by walking into the middle of the hurricane with their cameras, we don't need you

to tell us there's a hurricane, we have windows. >> in arizona, a belated victory for ron barber, the challenger for his congressional seat conceded the race. a race considered too close to call until now. retiring congressman ron paul says he's got a plan for the next few years and it involves spending a lot of time speaking on college campuses. the two-time presidential hopeful says he'll take his libertarian message on the road, connecting with young voters as he did during his campaign and on the hill, no fun to be the newbie, as chris collins learned this week. roll call reported he jumped up in the middle of a democratic caucus meeting and said, oh, shoot i'm in the wrong meeting. where are the republicans? collins' aide he suggested on purpose in a show of bipartisanship. and president obama touring asia made it clear he'll take help avoiding the fiscal cliff anywhere he can get it as he

toured temples in bangkok, he joked with his monk guide that he could use prayers on the budget crisis and at a press conference, he added this -- >> i always believe in prayer. i believe in prayer when i go to church. back home. and if a buddhist monk is wishing me well, i'm going to take whatever good vibes. >> all right. who is attacking some of the most beloved creatures in the sea? maiming and killing dolphins? the hunt is on in the gulf coast. up next, could our fiscal cliff standoff lead to another downgrade in the nation's credit rating. what we should be aware of, up next. [ sniffs ]

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divers found body believed to be one of the missing crew members working on an oil platform that exploded friday. they're still searching the gulf of mexico off the coast of louisiana after the accident. what happened is still under investigation, but the "times-picayune" reports it looks like the fire started when workers used a torch to cut a pipe that had oil in it. the hunt is on for someone who is targeting dolphins. crews found at least three different incidents where dolphins were shot, maimed and even missing a jaw. in four different french cities, tens of thousands of protesters rallied against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. and it also allows gay couples to adopt. france allows civil unions, but this would extend gay rights. and nascar's sprint season cup finale getting under way. can five-time champion jimmie johnson beat brad keselowski at the miami homestead speedway. if the fiscal cliff negotiations seem familiar, we've seen the movie before.

president obama and speaker boehner were unable to reach a debt deal in 2001. one of the by-products of the inaction was a downgrade of the country's credit rating. could this happen again? and what would it mean for the nation's financial standing across the globe? joining me is jared bernstein, senior fellow at the center for budget policies and priorities. good to see you again, when it comes to the credit rating, we've seen it happen before. all three credit rating agencies are saying you've got to put a deal together in washington, if you guys in washington don't get it done, we're going to downgrade your credit. >> we've seen this movie before. it's not a good movie. i will remind viewers that the last time standard and poors did take us down a notch, it actually didn't hurt our ability to finance our debt at all. so that was kind of blown off by the markets, but this time could be different. there's one interesting wrinkle here. i do believe that if the political discourse, which is actually sounding a little better lately breaks down,

everything is dysfunctional by the end of the year and we go over the cliff, i suspect there will be a debt downgrade and it could hurt. but there's a wrinkle in the following sense -- remember if we go over the fiscal cliff, there's about $600 billion of deficit reduction in one year. now that's too much for growth. but in terms of kind of fiscal rekt t rekt tud, that's a big debt reduction deal. >> if they kick the decision down the road, will it keep the credit rating agencies happy? >> i don't think so. i think it depends on the nature of the can-kick. i think if it's just a simple can-kick that says we're not going to deal with this, we can't get our act together, we'll come back to it in six months, i would look for a notch or two downgrade if if one that says legislation will pass sometime next year even if we don't have a handshake on it, that might be different. >> let's say the ceos do get together. fortune 500 come together and say you need to get something done in washington, d.c., in the

beltway, how much leverage do they have? >> the thing about those guys is they, they really haven't offered many specifics. so one of the things you keep hearing from conservatives and some of the ceos, not all of them, is that we don't want to see tax rates go up. we want to see a broader tax base. make up the revenue you need by closing loopholes. yet, they never seem to offer any loop did the holes, when you do start talking loopholes, it's investment income, charitable giving, mortgage interest deduction and you get investors saying your loophole is my job creation program. so that's why i think the president is correct to stick with these ideas. >> no deal happens, credit rating goes down. what does it mean in the world financial markets, when we're looking at big lenders, like china and japan and others that are giving money to the united states. does this -- therefore decrease the confidence in the way we can make money here in the united states? >> yes, i mean the big concern

there is that a credit downgrading would make it much more expensive for us to borrow to finance our current debt, which is of course, substantial. for years we've been borrowing at rates that are historically very, very low. now that could change. but i will remind you, the last time there was a debt downgrade, as i said earlier. it didn't affect our borrowing rates at all. >> we'll just have to pay more? >> absolutely. that would be one scenario where interest rates would go up. but nobody is going to just stop lending to us. last time this happened, in fact interest rates went down. so there's a lot of moving parts here. >> a lot of moving parts, jared bernstein, thanks for talking about many of them today. appreciate it. on to the continuing fallout from the presidential election, where a tough loss to president obama has many republicans saying -- romney who? a new buzzfeed article titled why republicans want mitt romney to go away -- historian jack bore told the publication quote

romney is now a toxic asset to unload. the only interesting thing left to his story is how to dispose of him. tough words. republicans have buried their playbook along with governor romney. the big question is what will the new playbook look like? joining me is democratic strategist and susan, a republican strategist. you read that, you go, wow. >> ouch. >> how deep is this? is it toxic load, get rid of him, move on? the rga certainly seems to say that. >> first of all, governor romney, his political career was over on election night. he never showed any interest in being a leader for the republican party. >> it's not so much they have to bury limb. >> start appealing to a wider base of voters. it's not tossing him aside, i don't think he was going to be a player. his remarks earlier this week

were very unfortunate. it almost gave a platform for this new branding of republicans. and also saying we're going to be more open. we're not going to allow people who aren't voters to dictate our policies in the media. and what we want to govern most of all, we're more open to seeing that out of the republican party. >> richard, talk to what susan brings up. a couple of days ago in politico, they reported this -- on governor rick scott's message to republicans. he says get over the election. when you look at that richard, the republican party is going through some soul-searching at the moment. it is recalibrating. what's your thought? is it, is it over for mitt romney? as it has been said. as susan was saying, as they try to pivot and move the republican party at the moment? >> that's not the problem. you know, listening to republicans since election day, reminds me of listening to

romney first talk about the 47% in that video, something he clearly believed and that was clearly very offensive. and then when he got caught, saying no, no, no, i'm really for 100%. which sounded pathetic. because nobody believed it. that's the problem today. because what republicans are essentially saying is -- we're for 100%. but let's look at the policies that they favor. here's how we'll know if they're really for 100%. when their message to hispanics is not self-deportation or close the borders, but a path to legal stats us. when to african-americans, it's a pathway to education and opportunity. when it's to gays and lesbians, not about shunning, but doing away with the discrimination we deal with that's when we'll know it's for real. when they're serious not about voter suppression, but about getting everybody engaged in the voting process. so until then it's just talk.

it's 100% talk. >> richard, what's your thought when you heard the comments from jindal. bobby jindal, the governor from louisiana and also chris christie. embracing remarks of widening the tent. does that satisfy those on the left? >> no. again until we see platforms, until we see proposals, until we see policies that these people will run on it's talk like romney's 100% talk was just talk. there's just zero evidence -- they're smart enough to realize, what they need to be saying, susan. but until we see evidence that they're going to turn that in terms of policy, that's all it is, is just talk. >> i agree. you have to do more than just talk. but republicans are doing more than just talk. take chris christie, certainly a rising star or probably one of the most shining stars in the republican party right now. he worked with randy weingarten, the head of the teachers' union to negotiate a contract in

newark, new jersey. now neither one of them, they were actually on the network earlier this week and said, we didn't compromise our principles, but we worked together to find a solution. that's a republican, again, not compromising on principle. but rather working towards a solution. and governing, so there are republicans doing it. we just have to not seem so polarized when certain issues come up. >> you've got the rga, since we just finished it up last week, pushing forward. what are some of those real practical applications that richard is asking for, with these ideas of widening the tent. of being more embracing to more voters? what next can, what next can the republican party do here? >> first and foremost. they have to come up with a deal on the fiscal cliff. and they're going to have to come up with revenues. just like the democrats are going to come up with spending cuts. the biggest challenge right now that the republicans have are not looking like the party of no. so they now have to look like they're ready to govern and that they're serious about it. second and probably on the heels

of solving that problem will be serious immigration reform and not just the dream act. it will have to be a lot more comprehensive than that. >> richard as you may have read this past week there was a report that i was luking at "the wall street journal," that looked at the states and state legislatures and 46 of them, 46 of them are now controlled by one party or the other. so when you look at that as the background. is the country becoming more partisan? or is it coming together? >> you know, it's funny. when you talk to people in congress, richard, and you talk about the partisanship. what they say is it's not we who are in congress more partisan, it's our constituents who are more partisan. i think there may be something to that. it's unfortunate. the good news, sad as it might be, is something like the fiscal cliff could bring people together. because everybody has to both swallow some pretty sour-tasting medicine to get past it.

and frankly, even this, really pretty sound thumping at the elections among hispanics and so forth, may be a message that the polar decision we've seen just is not sustainable going forward. >> great stuff, richard thank you so much and democratic strategist, and republican strategist. thank you so much. the spirit of cooperation is in the air in washington, how long? we'll give you the latest on the fiscal cliff dealings as we were just talking about, dig down deeper on that. and after five days, the violence continues in the middle east are they on the brink of war, or is peace possible? and then we'll hear from a palestinian lead anywhere ramala. join the counter revolution and switch to olay pro-x to see results in 28 days. anti-aging results so you look up to 12 years younger. reduce the look of pores and fight red acne for clearer skin get cleansing results as effective as a $200 system no matter what your skincare issues

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>> it's a quiet evening here in the gaza strip. all you can hear are the sounds of israeli drones flying above. every once in a while you hear israeli fighter jets, over the past 45 minutes we've heard three loud explosions that we believe to be israeli air strikes targeting different parts of the city and the northern part of the territory. it's been a scene like this throughout the course of the day as well. in fact there's been one very infamous case of an israeli air strike targeting the home of one family that israel claims to be ann a suspected hamas militant. when we visited, we saw firsthand that at least four children were pulled out of the rubble of the destroyed home, as well as eight other people we're told by the rescue team that spent hours trying to dig through the rubble it recover the bodies. the death toll has surpassed 50. with a vast majority of them being civilians and this is according to palestinian health officials here in gaza. so people are bracing for what is going to be another long night as we have seen every night so far. it is at these times of the

nighttime, really that we see an intensification of air strikes throughout the course of the evening. richard? >> how are the hospitals holding up, ayman? >> we've had a chance to visit some hospitals, gaza's infrastructure, its health infrastructure, it's facilities are poorly run. despite the best of their abilities. their doctors haven't been able to travel in recent years because of the siege. getting medicine in is at the discretion of the military. there are international organizations that are operating here, but no doubt that overall condition of gaza's infrastructure has been under strain over the last several years. the problem is with an intensification of violence, possibly even a ground invasion there's going to be an influx of casualties and what we've heard from health officials in the past is gaza's hospitals and clinics are not equipped to deal with the numbers they've seen in previous incursions.

>> ayman. now a spokesperson for the palestine liberation organization. thank you for being with us today. i want to start with this question for you. what do you believe it will take for hamas to stop the missile attacks into southern israel? and towards tel aviv as well? and focus on the diplomatic talks. >> i think you should be asking the question the other way around. which is what is it going to take to get israel to stop its agreks towar aggression towards the palestinians. far more casualties on the palestinian side. if we're going to move forward, this is going to require a comprehensive effort in order to address not just the question of rockets or bombs, but the question of the overall underlying condition. which is the ongoing occupation and siege of the gaza strip. >> are there any specifics, you bring up some long-term issues that have been certainly

debated. the road map to peace, those are on front plate, certainly, are there any specifics right now, so that the cease-fire can be maintained? a sustainable cease-fire can be maintained. what is it that gaza or hamas needs to see to have that in place? >> first and foremost, there needs to be a stop in terms of the bombing and secondly, there needs to be a complete lifting of the blockade that's been in place on the gaza strip for more than six years. as we've seen, the gaza strip is already running short of medical supplies. not just medical supplies, but construction supplies. and israeli officials have already said that they want to send the gaza strip back into the middle ages. this is not going to bring comprehensive peace what we need to start doing is moving forward by focusing on ending the siege. ending the blockade and most of all, ending the bombing. >> diana, there's been some israeli news reports quoting that hamas at the moment saying that the cease-fire talks have failed. but we're also hearing that 90%

of cease-fire requirements have been met according to what's being reported from hamas. what hasn't been met yet? >> basically, what hamas and all palestinians are looking for, is an end to the blockade. it's simply untenable -- >> that's the other 10%. >> that's the other 10%. it's not just a question of stopping rockets or stopping bombings, but a question of lifting the overall siege and lifting the overall control that israel has over the gaza strip. israel controls the air space, it controls the territorial waters. it controls the land crossings as well. if we want to be serious about moving forward with peace, we cannot continue to deny freedom to these people. >> diana -- >> it's time to move on and time to let them live in peace. >> some watchers are saying that hamas is trying to stand strong right now against the idf. moving forward very concerted way. because of the economic conditions right now in gaza and

the promises that were made by hamas early on being unable to fulfill those economic promises and therefore, they are pushing forward against israel to stand strong. what do you say to that? >> well i think it's actually the opposite. there is a devastating economic situation in place in the gaza strip. in large part it is because of the siege. the other problem is that the much-needed supplies are not being allowed in because of the israeli blockade. so the only way to move forward is to be able to focus on that blockade and lift that blockade, lift that siege and move forward. this isn't a question of people, of defending their land simply because of economic reasons. but it's a question of people defending their land because they want to defend their right and their rights to freedom. they want to move forward -- >> arab leaders are getting together to talk about a solution going forward. do you have hope for those? >> i don't have a lot of hope for that, that comes out from the arab league. i do think, however, the message that they should be sending is a

very clear one to president obama, that now is the time to actually deal with this issue. he can't keep this issue festering for another four years and leave it up to another president. another president. it's time to deal with this decisively and deal with it now. >> diana, thank you so much for your time today. appreciate your perspectives on this. former spokesperson, again, for the plo. and today may look a lot happier right now, but all the same players are at the negotiating table. what can we make of the new dawn of bipartisanship as it's being described in washington? has anything really changed here? we'll talk about that after the break. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans?

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i'm optimistic because i think it's very clear the

american people expect and deserve and want to see us get this job done. the spirit at the table was one of everybody wants to make the best effort to get this done. >> democratic leader nancy pelosi there voicing an optimistic outlook of the future of the fiscal negotiations going on in washington. will this early bipartisan overture lead to bipartisan solutions to avert the so-called fiscal cliff? let's bring back our panel. bill, we've been seeing this before. we've seen all the same faces here coming up to the table. we've said it. same song, second verse, at least in what's happening there in the beltway. what are you looking for right? what are you watching to see that this will last? >> first of all, something has changed. what happened was we had an election. the election makes a difference. the president was re-elected. he's never going to run for election again. the congress, the republicans got a setback in the house and

senate, particularly in the senate. there was a message there to republicans that there's pressure on them to cooperate because, remember, the entire house of representatives has to face the voters in two years. the president never has to do that again. so i think the message is very strong that people expect cooperation. the second point is no americans really know where this crisis came from. it was a crisis that was invented by congress. >> the crisis, very few americans here, lynn, are actually aware and know is very well. one in four actually believe they understand the fiscal cliff very well and what it may mean to the economy. what's your thought? will this bipartisanship last? does it really give an advantage to the president? because a -- because he can communicate to the american public. >> what he said before and what nancy pelosi underscored is that's the one thing he wants the most first. here's what i think will happen.

you'll not solve the whole issue of deficit spending, cuts and spending and tax hikes by december 31st. but they can make a deal to make a deal. so to avoid some of the immediate impact. senator durbin had a good phrase that others have used too. the effect of going over this it deadline is more of a fiscal slope than a fiscal cliff. as bill just said, this is a congressional-made crisis, not anything that has an intrinsic deadline such as a debt ceiling or something that people could understand. what congress can do, they can undo. most likely, they will. to have the deal, both pelosi and boehner will have to contribute members to vote on come compromise. >> lynn, bill, short on time. thank you both so much for coming by today. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up next hour, we'll talk to a former diplomat who was one of president obama's most

infunchal advisers in the middle east. and, you're looking at live pictures out is of tel aviv right now. it's almost 11:00 p.m. there right now. we'll take you there for the latest on rising tensions. [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling begins. and where it ends? that's up to you. it's here -- the greatest malibu ever. ♪ open enrollment is here. the time to choose your medicare coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. so call to enroll in a plan that could give you

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